1. These three paragraphs on "arising" seem particularly murky. Here, I hazard what I take to be the argument.

When we understand the sutra passage as the ocean seal samadhi, in which all of reality is apparent, then it is not (as seems to be the case in the sutra) that there are things ("the body") produced ("combine to form") by phenomenal events ("the dharmas"). Rather, all these terms are simply alternative aspects of, or ways of referring, to the ongoing activity of reality ("combine to form this body").

This activity does not produce separate things that could be known ("not awareness," "not cognition"); hence, it cannot be described in our usual terms ("he does not state"). In the ocean seal samadhi ("a further encounter"), the distinction between self and other does not hold ("one loses the advantage of the encounter").

The activity is always present ("when the moment comes"), always revealing reality just as it is ("arisen!"), always exposing the self just as it is ("I arise"). This self is also just the activity of the world and, hence, cannot be described ("the I arise that is he does not state"). The activity of reality in the ocean seal samadhi is not to be judged in ordinary terms of time ("the twelve times") or space ("the three realms").

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2. A paraphrase of the point here might be put somewhat as follows.

The words "arising and ceasing don't stop" and "who's arising and ceasing?" well express the Zen commitment to ongoing practice ("the vital artery of the buddhas and patriarchs") in the quest to clarify the self ("who's arising and ceasing?"). This practice is modeled on that of the bodhisattva ("manifesting this body," "preaching the dharma for them,") and the tradition of Bodhidharma ("you've got my marrow," you've got my bones").

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3. An attempt to summarize the above three paragraphs on "ceasing" might come out something like this.

To say that phenomena cease is to say that what we identify as phenomena are empty of real referents and cannot ultimately be defined ("he does not state, 'I cease'"). Since they are empty of real referents, the phenomena we identify as defiled ("the adventitious defilements") are not really defiled. The recognition that they are not really defiled is what defines the enlightened ("the buddhas and patriarchs"), but the state of being undefiled is common to all ("you are also like this"). There are many terms ("hands and eyes") for this condition of emptiness ("nirvana," etc.); but it is simply another, negative way of talking about the activity of reality ("the moment of arising").

The emptiness ("ceasing") of the phenomena refers to the stream of both our experiences ("thought moments") and their objects ("dharmas"). In one sense, we can say with Mazu that, since they are empty, these are not really separate entities in relation to each other ("not related," "not opposing"); but we can also say more positively that emptiness is the reality of all things, both of the person ("the five aggregates") and its world ("the four elements"). This is the reality within which authentic buddhist practice ("hands and eyes") takes place, the reality that marks the authentic practitioner ("the merit of the buddhas and ancestors").

Just as it is said that phenomenal events do not oppose each other as entities, so the activity of reality ("arising") and its emptiness ("ceasing") do not oppose each other. Both are always present ("in begiinning, middle, and end"). They are what we might call the outer ("officially," "in meeting") and inner ("privately," "if you raise the point") aspects of the same reality. Together, they are just ("this is") the pure ("undefiled") phenomena of Buddhist spiritual life ("practice and verification") called the ocean seal samadhi.

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4. Here is a one possible watered down paraphrase of this paragraph.

The ocean seal samadhi is not just a state of mind: it is what is happening ("a presence"); it is an expression ("a saying") of what is happening. It is the locus ("the night") of the bodhisattva's spiritual practice ("groping for a pillow"), the site ("the ocean") of the buddha's teaching ("I always preached"). We can distiguish two aspects of this practice: the agent ("I always preached," "a single wave") and the sphere of its actions ("the Lotus Sutra," "ten thousand waves"); but this distinction overlooks ("putting a head on top of your head") the enlightened status of the self in practice ("I am in the ocean"). The self in practice is not simply someone practicing in the secular world ("where the worldly dwell") or in a sacred Buddhist world ("loved by the sages"); it is always at home ("this true return") in a world that is at once ordinary and enlightened ("a fully empty boat, laden with moonlight"). This is what is unique to Zen practice ("the way of the buddha"), that it brings together sacred and secular ("sealing sky, water, and mud") and transmits them as the authentic sign ("mind seal") of the buddhas and patriarchs.

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